Maybe I’m just getting lucky, who knows? Anyone else noticing an increased number of gem shrines compared to the original game?
When I posted this, I had found two… Shortly after I found another. THREE gem shrines in the Crystalline Passage and the Glacial Trail.
I just got 40 with my necro and found 0 gem shrine soooo… gimme your shrines ?
I was finding a lot of them in the classic game the past couple of months. Who knows, I may not see another one for a few days now.
So what you’re saying is that you passed 100s of shrines in Act 1-4 and found 3 shrines so far? Dang, ultra lucky right there /s
e: I guess I should be serious and throw in actual info. No, the odds are the same. It still takes me about 10 minutes on average to get a perfect topaz from gem shrines in Act 1.
Is there any area/act where these are more common than others? I found 2 the first two days in the wilderness just outside the rogue camp, and since then… nothing. Managed to get myself an emerald if nothing else. 
Stony Field is the best. There is a whole technical reason you can find a guide on. The gist is there were 2 shrines in the game, they were removed, and the game still uses them in the list of possible spawns so when it fails it is more likely to spawn Gem Shrine.
Other than Stony Field it is easiest just to run around the waypoints in Cold Plains, Dark Wood, and Black marsh as they spawn 2-3 shrines pretty nearby. Then remake the game.
I didn’t find my first until act 5 and I did a lot of countess runs and didn’t see any. I used to get them starting in Act 1 as I remember I would routinely carry a low end gem so the shrine would upgrade it. This is really nice when just starting out.
RNG loves you today.
It must have been luck, because I haven’t found one ever since I posted. I jinxed my gem shrine spawn rate. Arrrgh 
Either that or Blizzards AI saw me say something and turned my gem shrine spawn rate from 11 down to 0.